We continue iRunFar’s look at wrist-top GPS devices with the Timex Ironman Run Trainer ($225 / $275 with HRM). In the current range of running GPSs, the Run Trainer falls into the middle tier of functionality as well as price. It’s got all the standard functions you’d expect in the GPS itself as well as the supporting software and online platform. The Run Trainer is a strong option for those run more reasonable distances on the trails, but will fall short on battery life on runs over 8 hours. On the flip side, the Run Trainer is exceptionally quick to pick up a GPS signal. For more on this GPS unit from Timex, watch the following video or read the full transcript of the review below.

Timex Ironman Run Trainer Review Transcript

When it comes to GPS we have hundreds of options available to us. We have everything from the top end devices costing close to $600 that have every bell and whistle you could possibly imagine all the way down to something more simple closer to the $100 range that maybe just does speed and distance. In the middle ground, we have devices like this, which is the Timex Ironman Run Trainer. This device is in that middle ground in terms of cost and features. It has an 8-hour battery life. It has a 50m-water resistance to it. It uses USB to plug in, to charge, and to transfer data. It has multiple screens that we can edit and is ANT compatible with a foot pod if you don’t have GPS signal, and it comes with an optional heart rate monitor, which is also ANT+. So with all those basic stats out of the way, let’s get up close and personal with the Run Trainer from Timex.

Heart Rate Monitor
So here we have the Run Trainer with the accompanying heart rate monitor belt. This is a very nice soft fabric, as you can see it’s very stretchy. It feels good; it’s not overly hard or anything like that. The only real hard part is the transmitter portion which is going to sit right here at chest level. Everything else is very pliable so it fits around different body types really easily.

The Wrist-Top Unit
Next up, let’s move to the watch. The watch is, as you would expect, in that theme of Ironman. You’ve got that orange and grey and black, which is the classic look for an Ironman watch. In comparison, I want to show you some size differences here. On the right (as you look at video) we have the Ironman Sleek and on the left we have the Run Trainer. As we can see from the face, these are quite different in size. When you turn them sideways, you can see that the thickness is quite a bit different. Of course, on the Sleek side, that is what the name is for; you have a very thin watch here. That’s its goal is to be thin and light, whereas on this one, it has the GPS and all the features that are built in.

Operating the Timex Run Trainer
Let’s give a look at how we are going to operate with this watch. We can see the large display, which is very easy to see in all types of conditions. On the back here, we have the sensor menu. I’ll hold that down. What that is going to do is give you the ability to turn the sensors on and off. You can do that inside or outside of an exercise. We’re going to go ahead and select that. What this is going to do is you can say I want just heart rate monitor on with no GPS or just GPS or I’d like both. With the foot pod you’re going to have that available to you also so the list can grow. This is not compatible with the bike or the power sensor. So what you should have seen there was very quick acquisition of the GPS. Because of that, I mean, I’m inside, I’m inside my office and that connected within a matter of seconds. That was one of the things I found really to be a bright spot for this device was how quickly it was able to pick up GPS. Now that we have GPS turned on, it’s really a matter of getting into our modes.

This button style is really similar to a lot of the Ironman’s out there as you would expect. At the bottom (bottom/left) we have our Mode/Done button. We have our Radio/Back button (middle/left) for when you’re inside an exercise. The Indiglo button that lights up greenish whole face illumination button is here (upper/left). Up top you have your Stop button as well as “Hold down to Reset” (upper/right). You have your Set button (middle right) to set your clock or to hold down to get into your menus. Then at the bottom we have our Start/Split (bottom/right). A lot of Ironman’s have that Start/Split on one large button right here (bottom of face in middle), but this one has it right here (bottom/right).

So let’s move into a Mode of Chronograph. So as you can see this is a basic screen here. Because GPS is turned on, it automatically bounces from that overall time to turning on speed and distance of our pace. If that wasn’t turned on, it would just stay standard chronograph and just count down as you would normally expect. When we’re in here, we can move throughout the screen. So we have timers and interval timers. We have a recovery mode that’s going to tell us after a certain amount of time and distance while wearing a heart rate monitor how much time we need to take off. Then we can also go through and review our workouts. Of course, this workout is going to include things like map data and heart rate data. The basics are going to be on the watch; the in depth stuff is going to be on the computer which we’ll go look at here in a minute. This is our standard chronograph. It’s just like you’d expect from any watch that’s going to keep a running time for us. So we have that available to us.

We also have some different displays. By default, we have our default display, which is our chronograph. We have our Run display, which is going to turn on with GPS that’s going to have speed and distance with our run time at the top. If we have a heart rate monitor turned on, it’s going to add that, too. So it’s a little bit dynamic in the way that works. Next we have Custom 1 and Custom 2. We can change these to be whatever we want them to be: speed (mph), pace, total distance traveled, ascent, descent. (I will note this is done through GPS not through barometric pressure, so not quite as accurate as you would get through an altimeter.) You can have all those different things available. You can set those up via the watch or online through the upload tool that I’ll show you here in a minute.

Timex Device Agent
What we have here is the Timex device agent. This is what’s going to interface between our device and the USB and taking that data to TrainingPeaks.com. So this agent is specific for our Timex device here and because of that we’ve got some settings and things that we are going to be able to manipulate directly through the computer interface versus using the small black and white screen of the watch along with the buttons.

So once we hit “settings” here, we can go into any setting on the watch and change it. That includes everything from Time, Alarms, Timers, Interval Training, and our Displays, which is probably the thing that you would look at customizing the most. So here on our Chronograph one, we can go through and pick a three or four line display – split time, pace, distance. We can go four lines and add more information to this. But really simply, we have a nice, easy way of being able to interact with the watch. That’s consistent with any of the settings that we can find on the device.

Some of the other things I really liked about this were enabling a drink timer, enabling an eat timer. If we’re going out and you want certain splits, maybe you’re doing a timed race with 1.4 mile loops and you want an auto-split at 1.4 miles vs. the standard half mile or mile or kilometer. Then, you can also tell it after you get below a certain speed to go ahead and turn itself off or to stop. So basically what this means is that all the things you can do on a watch, you’re able to do on a much easier interface directly from your computer.

So back to the agent. Here are some logs or some exercises we have done. We can do some really simple editing. We can change the user name if we have multiple individuals that are using this watch or device and uploading to Training Peaks, we can go back and forth between those individuals. We can also change what sport we did, so if we want to change it to something else, we can be sure to do that before we upload. So once we upload, we’re just going to simply click the ones we want and click Save. That’s going to save those out to our Training Peaks dashboard.

TrainingPeaks.com
Once it’s uploaded, we simply go to our Training Peaks login, go and look our existing log. Here’s an example of where it took my planned event for the day, I had a 1-hour easy run planned, and it took the data from the watch and saw, “Oh, he did a 1:01:15 run on this date; these two probably go together.” So it automatically filled in this data for me. So really a nice way of not having to go through and click a bunch of buttons and try to associate that information. It just does it.

On the maps and graphs side of things, this is where it is that we’re going to see where I went, my route, my splits, and all those kinds of things. We’re going to be able to do that directly from inside of here. So this is the basic information you’re going to get. And if you had laps, of course, this is going to be continually worked out through here on the right hand side. Then at the very bottom, right-hand corner, we’re going to get our overall look at what that workout looked like. Now, if we want to do anything beyond this, we can export, view in Google maps, so we do have some ability to push this outside of Training Peaks. But if we want to change our graphs or look at some different settings, Training Peaks has a premium package that has lots and lots of data analyzing and all these sort of things to go beyond just the basic features. But if you’re just looking for your time, your distance, your map, you want to look at your elevation profile, and be able to export that data, you’re going to be able to do that all through the Training Peaks interface.

Timex Ironman Run Trainer Overview
So that Run Trainer from Timex is not going to be that device that is going to get you from start to finish of a 100 mile or a 100k or even a 50 mile in most cases. It is going to be able to get you through those 4, 5, 6, 7, and even up to 8-hour training days or distances or events. It’s also waterproof up to 50 meters. So if you’re an athlete that does more than just running and happens to swim, or you’re out in the rain, you don’t have to be afraid to get this thing wet. With a backend system like Training Peaks, you can with a paid account analyze to the nth degree in terms of what’s going on out there. And you also have a watch that, while large, is not huge and could be worn as a casual watch, because it doesn’t have a antenna that necessarily sticks out and it’s not overly aggressive in terms of its looks.

So while you don’t get all the features and functions of the watches with barometric pressure that run for 21 and 18 hours, you’re also not paying quite that premium. For someone like myself that doesn’t wear GPS in races, something like this is a really great training companion.

Call for Comments
Any questions or comments, please leave them. Thanks for watching. We’ll catch you next time.

[Disclosure: Timex provided a sample of the Run Trainer for this review.]

Travis Liles resides in Portland, Oregon where he is a husband, father, Race Director for the Mark Twain 100, and a technical specialist for a software company. In his spare time, he is exploring his new home in the Pacific Northwest, getting more vertical but still not living in the thin air, while producing "Trail Trials with Travis Liles" video gear reviews for iRunFar.All posts by Travis Liles

I had this watch for about 2 weeks and really liked it except two things. 1 the snaps on the heart rate monitor would come off really easy if you tried to adjust it which got really annoying on the run. 2 It scratches really easy I ended up taking it back to REI and getting the Sunnto Ambit. I figure if your going to train 50-100 miles a week and run Trail Ultras might as well step up to the plate on a watch.

George, I can't imagine that there's as much disdain toward triathletes from ultrarunners as you suggest. Certainly, most aren't going to consider a tangential brand association when buying a GPS watch. Everywhere I've lived, ultrarunners have tended to define themselves by who they are and what they do rather than who they're not.

And for those of us of a certain age with a track background, the Timex Ironman was nearly "standard issue." I still use one for interval work and leave my Garmin at home. Nostalgia drives that choice a bit, but the plain ol' Ironman is a solid runner's stopwatch and, until only a few weeks ago, was the only watch I ever used.

For this GPS model, however, I wonder how Travis found the GPS accuracy. The review covers the hardware and features well, but not so much the accuracy. I have read that Timex fell a bit short in this area on its other iterations of GPS watches.

While I rarely use it any more, I do still have a functional normal (i.e., non-GPS) Timex Ironman watch and, surely, had one or two before it. Probably ran with an Ironman watch exclusively for 13 or 14 years. I still bust it out to where when I'm reporting on races and need a chrono handy. Can't say I bear any ill will to the Ironman brand; in fact, I associate it much more closely the being gold standard for running watches than as a triathlon trademark.

I guess I would put "accuracy" in quotes. I have a heap of GPS watches as well as footpods and if there is one constant between them all it is that none of them are 100% accurate. Basically I go out and run some road runs and make a comparison of the data captured to me drawing the map out manually with something like MapMyRun. If there's not a major discrepancy, I tend to not worry about it. I did not find those runs to be off by much if at all. On the trail, I take a slightly less specific approach as GPS is almost always wrong. Switchbacks, tree cover, etc seem to throw things off. Again I did not find this device to be any less "correct" than my other devices when running my known trails.

Accuracy definitely belongs in quotes. I'm using a Garmin Forerunner 210 now as my first GPS watch, and it adds some fun data to my runs, but the data is full of little anomalies (elevation, pace, route on the map). That's all fine — especially since I'm frequently looking at the clock anyway and trying to run one of my normal routes in about the normal time it takes to run it. I suppose that's why my Ironman stopwatch worked so well for that approach for so long (and still does).

DCRainmaker does some pretty in-depth reviews of these units and found timex to be less accurate than others on his tests, for whatever that's worth. It would be interesting to see how this unit stacks up against another unit on the same run. Of course, with two watches with (presumably) two different data sets, you'd be left with a philosophical problem of which run you went on. I'll leave that to you to figure out.

Really George? It's a watch. I've been running for over 20 years, and have used Ironman watches for a good portion of that time because they're reliable, simple, and they work. I'm interested in this GPS unit because of my prior years of good experiences with the Ironman line of watches.

After experimenting with a bunch of GPS watches (910xt, Ambit, previous incarnations of the Garmin watches) I have come to the conclusion that cell phones are the way to go for long races for slow pokes like me who doesn't worry about carrying some extra weight. The recent generation of cell phones have barometric pressure sensors (Xperia Active and Samasung Galaxy Nexus to name a couple) and a few of the Xperia line of phones have ANT+ radio as well. The advantages are 1) No need to worry about tracks being overwritten because of limited memory, 2) The ease of recharging the phone to last for long duration using external usb chargers without having to use the clumsy charging clip for the newer generation devices (which obscures the display in some cases), 3) you get the added benefit of being able to contact somebody in case of an emergency provided there is some cell coverage, and, 4) being able to use one device for everything (if you are the type that likes listening to music/podcasts/etc.) to name a few. Moreover, in Europe, you are required to carry a cell phone during some of the races. In terms of software app, having tested SportyPal Pro in a few training runs and races, it compares very well with both 910xt and Ambit both in terms of accuracy and functionality that I am interested in.

One aspect of GPS watches that I have come to learn is quite important, but rarely gets any coverage in reviews (as the data is unattainable after only a few wears) is lifetime battery life. I owned a Garmin 405 for one year and the battery died completely. These watches aren't cheap and their batteries aren't simple or cheap to replace. Garmin requires you to ship the watch and pay $90 for a battery replacement… that is an expensive annual "subscription" cost to factor in to the overall cost of a watch.

That's why I no longer use wrist top gps and stick to the more reliable lifetime battery life of my smartphone for gps tracking. Plus all the data software is already built in (on board map viewing too)!

I just wanted to add my 2 cents. I have found the gps tracking to be excellent. I run often in Rocky Mountain National Park and surrounding area and have never lost signal. When I upload to Training Peaks the map overlay is precise. Battery Life is poor or I just run too slow I guess, I ran Golden Gate Dirty Thirty In Blackhawk,CO last weekend and watch died before I did. I finished in 7 hours 1 minute,watch gave up at around 6 hours 30 minutes. I was still able to use chrono function just had to shut down GPS to save power.

In regards to Ironman name its just what Timex call there products. As a long distance runner am I supposed to not like triathletes? I hope I can still be friends with them especially since my Ironman Run Trainer came to me free from a sponsored triathlete.

Thanks for the review Travis. This model isn't for me (I need bike sensor integration as well), but I've been starting to look at Timex as an option. I have had two Garmin watches, non GPS (FR50 and FR60) and they're decent, but the construction quality of the bands is horrendous. I go through a band (well, it just starts to fall apart) within a year. Get one replacement under warranty, and then I'm on my own. Current FR60 is held on with 550 cord…

Anyway, I've been looking at Timex because I used to use those pre-running days, and know they're well constructed. And obviously the ant+ compatibility is key for me, since I'm loaded with foot pods, bike sensors, HR monitor straps, etc. I also already use Training Peaks for my data.

One thing that is maddening about the Timex site though is there is no mention or way to find out which of their models are Ant+ and which aren't (because some aren't). And which work with what sensors. It's the one thing that's kept me from buying a Timex. If you have a contact at Timex, please prod the crap out of them to get them to make this information available on their website, especially with the comparison feature.

Note to those who hate the low battery runtimes on GPS watches: If you're willing to use a footpod, I've found mine (after calibration) to be +/- 2% accurate, with the accuracy going up or down depending on terrain and running pace. That means maybe 0.4 miles off on a 20 mile run. Pretty good. I actually REALLY like the footpod vs GPS because I get cadence feedback and data, which I think is more important than the distance, just as time on feet is more important IMO as well. Soooo, if you want accurate distance for shorter runs, you could use the GPS, and if you want long runtimes for races with approximate distance and accurate cadence (to get your feet moving faster when you start to tire), then you could turn the GPS off and add the footpod. Just a thought.

The only annoying thing I have found with this watch is something I definitely assumed all GPS watches would have. The ability to turn off the GPS. As soon as you hit that "radio" button, you have less than 8 hours to get back and charge it before all your data is deleted. Not only that, but if you like or use the auto stop and start function, it will record pretty much your every movement as a run. The only way I've found that I am able to "turn off" GPS and save my battery is by going inside a large building or otherwise cutting off the GPS signal. I just don't understand how Timex could overlook something like this.

Can anyone please help figure out how to delete workout data from my Run Trainer? I have 10% free memory left and I am running in a race on July 4th! I cannot seem to figure it out either through the watch or the trainingpeaks.com interface. Thanks so much in advance!

Kinda unrelated, kinda not. Would love a review of the new Magellan Switch Up. Yes, it's just another GPS watch, but with a few ultra/endurance attributes. #1 for the ultra crowd: while it only has an 8 hour battery life, you can disconnect it from the band (while it's running), and clip in an extended life battery for another 16 hours of runtime between it and the band. And then another later. And another. No more running out of battery life for a GPS watch.

This also allows it to very nicely clip onto a bike mount, although that will only interest some.

Seems like the interface is pretty nice too, and since it's Ant+, it will work with existing Garmin HR straps, foot pods, bike sensors, etc.

I was looking through the comments so I thought I would answer some questions/ concerns in case anyone came back to check for an answer.

@khoneyman – The only available way to delete workouts from the watch is through plugging the watch into a computer and selecting the button to do so on the top of the Timex Device Agent. That can be downloaded on Timex's page on Training peaks here: http://timexironman.trainingpeaks.com/timexironma…
@Adam – To turn off the GPS you must hold down the radio button for a second or two and a menu will appear, where you will have the option to turn off the GPS.

@Andrew – An issue with the Garmin 405/405cx's batteries that stemmed from poor software has been resolved, albeit in an untimely manner. Depending on whether or not your watch had the problem (dead battery in >4hrs) could bring premature aging, but if the watch is being used a lot anyways, then the maximum usage time of the battery is unavoidable. Sadly, Garmin has a history of poor customer support, mostly through email, which leaves many to dwell in the Garmin support forums, and they seem to charge a premium for battery replacements. One other thing that has very much disappointed me with Garmin is their tendency to discontinue firmware updates to devices that very much need it; or even worse, the case with the Garmin Forerunner 110 where certain features were left off such as display features like pace or the use of footpods although the watch had everything it needed for such operations. Garmin released the Forerunner 210 instead and left everyone in the dark forcing them to purchase the 210 if they wanted more features in an identical watch with new colors.

RE: Accuracy:

What is said in a comment above about Timex watches having poor GPS locking/ accuracy WAS true, and for a long time. I am very sure that the comment was referring to the Timex Global Trainer, which was Timex's only watch for a couple years that had almost always been relatively terrible in GPS locking (5min<). Since then, an update has been released that made it MUCH MUCH better. As for the Timex Run Trainer, I've found it has always been great in locking (always <15seconds) and not losing signal (except for the very first run where I jumped over houses =P).

In comparison to other GPS watches, I would say that the accuracy is very good if not better. Garmins include a setting called 'Smart Recording', and a setting called '1-Second Recording'. In Smart recording a data point is collected when the watch feels it would be best, generally about 3-7 seconds. 1-second recording is the same but every second a point is recorded, making it more accurate. The problem is not all Garmins have one-second recording, which leaves you to Smart Recording which can end in you cutting through all kinds of corners on your runs, leading to incorrect distance totals at times, which varies by chance. An example of this kind of watch is the Garmin 210. Furthermore, the reason for having the two options is to save battery life with the use of Smart Recording, but it has been found no effect on battery life is experienced at all. Having the watch connected to GPS is what takes up battery life. As far thick forests go with switchbacks and such, GPS watches aren't able to be accurate yet. For that you can use a footpod which is almost as good, assuming you don't change your stride to where you need +/- steps for a given distance.

All current Garmin watches sample the GPS every second. They just don't record every sample point unless the watch thinks it's necessary to define your route accurately. The distance shown on the watch is always calculated from 1-second sampling. Post-run analysis on your computer might come up with a different answer because of the smart recording.

The point isn't to save battery life, it's to increase the number of workouts you can have recorded on the watch.

I agree with you completely about accuracy in tree cover with switchbacks, though, and being on a steep slope where the peak blots out some of the satellites doesn't help either.

recently bought a new timex ironman run trainer gps with heart rate monitor. tested aquiring gps signal and it was succesful. however,on another times when i used only the HRM, i got stuck with searching for heart rate for many hours already. tried to press any other button, but nothing happends, please help on what to do.

There shouldn't be any reason to turn the watch off. If you press and hold the radio button a menu will appear that let's you power off the GPS/heart rate/ and foot pod (Maybe this is what you are asking?. In this mode the battery will last a very long time, so there is no need to completely power off the watch.

I bought this watch about a year ago as my first GPS watch. On paper it looked like a great choice for me in terms of price, features, and physical size. The heart rate monitor and the foot pod work great. I like the customizable displays and you can have one for cadence, one for heart rate, and one for pace. Sadly, the GPS stopped working about a month ago and will never acquire a signal. Then even after I turn the GPS off it just drains the battery down over a couple of hours. This is a shame for shorter road runs when I would really like to use it. I have tried firmware upgrades and erasing, but like I said the GPS has just stopped working. For this reason, even though I really like everything about the watch, I would not buy it again.

That happened to my first one after about a month. It happened the same day as the whole solar flare thing; no idea if it had anything to do with it, probably not and just a coincidence. Really strange problem.

I got it replaced and my new one hasn't had any problems for 10 months but once. You should try resetting it though. It happened recently, but if you hold, I think either all the buttons or the four corners, it will reset the watch and it works like new again.

Where can one buy the heart rate monitor? Something is not working on my Ironman, Run Trainer GPS, Digital 2.4 transmission sensor. It worked for 4 months. I can't find one for sale anywhere. Thanks Timex. Anyone have a way to trouble shoot it? I've tried new batteries. It sort of reads until I start cycling. It's not a year old either. I tell you it's very frustrating. Not happy

Is there any way to view total time of the workout under interval mode? Ideally, I would like to view distance, pace, interval time, and total time under one display, but I can't figure out how to do this, or it doesn't seem to be an option. It looks like the watch does track total time in interval mode because I can review the workout and get this info, but it doesn't show up on the display. If anyone can help me with this, that'd be great. Thanks!

Thanks for the recent review and blog comments. All very helpful. I was going to answer some of the questions/misconceptions myself, but Greg stole my thunder.

Regarding fast GPS locking: your experience confirms that my unit is defective. I always start it at my house. Yet it says "waiting for GPS" for a couple minutes or more. When I give up and press the "radio" button again, I discover that it had actually locked on; it just didn't tell me. Or so it claims. But sometimes at the start of the run, the avg pace is bogus (0' 0'' forever or 99' 99'').

Regarding accuracy: I don't know what to expect. I am surprised that when I look at the route online, it has me running through houses, cutting corners (severely), even going up-and-back side streets where I never go. Once it showed me starting a long block to the left from where I really did start. The incorrect routes are reflected in the total distance: I must always run longer than expected based on gmap-pedometer.com. Of course, who can say which is more accurate.

Nevertheless, I like the Run Trainer; and I have been "invested" in Timex Ironman HRMs for a long time. But when I went to REI today to get a replacement, I balked because the customer srvc rep said they had gotten reports of the Run Trainer "not charging". Having read this blog, I now realize it is probably just ultrarunners complaining about the 8hr limit. But I am suspicious: my battery indicator was down half-way after a 6-mile run. I'm slow, but not that slow. Could be related to my GPS locking problem. That drains the battery if it really is searching all that time.

The comments here about Garmin are helpful. I know now that I would not necessarily be better off with one. I really like all the display options that the Run Trainer offers.

Why won't my Irinman GPS save workouts ? I finish my workout, hit the stop button, hold it done and it says "save workout YES/NO" and the yes is flashing, I hit yes and the wTCH SAYS "WORKOUT SAVED". I hook it up to the computer to download into Training Peaks and nothing is there !! HELP !

Try to set it to "Save to Disk". I have no idea how it looks like in Windows, but in Mac there is a directory where it saves all the PWX files regardless of whether they have been uploaded to TP or not.

The displays are a total mess. It's not possible to change from one to the other easily without reducing your pace or stopping, thus having 3 displays or so is useless. You can set up one with the data you want, but as said, it is not easy to get to it if you want to see other stuff.

I'm quite disappointed with the interval timer. The Chronograph is quite good and the GPS accurate even under tree cover (here in Holland)…